Final Word from Thursday, July 7, 2016

Two days before Tony Blair got skewered for leading his country into a possibly illegal war in Iraq, François Hollande and Angela Merkel assured six Balkan countries that the EU's enlargement strategy remains in place despite Brexit. The Czech government was on board with George W. Bush and Blair in March 2003 (see the White House's list of coalition members), and is on board with Hollande and Merkel now (see the Czech EU enlargement policy). This juxtaposition of the Iraq war and EU enlargement is most relevant with regard to Kosovo. The bombing of Serbia and the subsequent independence of Kosovo has turned that new country into "a font of Islamic extremism and a pipeline for jihadists," according to the New York Times. The "humanitarian bombing" of Serbia has in effect allowed Saudi Arabia to establish its first European colony. And the Czech government will again be on board when that colony is invited one day to join the EU. [Czech Republic Yugoslavia European Union France Germany]